The present invention relates to compositions for use in agricultural and non-agricultural pest control applications, such as control of insects, weeds, and fungi.
Many pesticide formulations are tank-mixed as liquids in the field with many other pesticides, adjuvants, and the like to maximize application efficiency. Many tank mixtures include two or more pesticides and/or fertilizers.
Compatibility of fertilizers with pesticides in tank-mixtures has proved a persistently troublesome problem. For example, chloronicontinyl (CNI) insecticides are known to be effective insecticides in agricultural and non-agricultural pest control, a known problem of this class of insecticides and other pesticides in general is the compatibility with fertilizers, particularly liquid fertilizer compositions. Despite the years of research, there is no general solution to the incompatibility problem, although earlier practitioners have provided several proposed solutions, e.g., U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,464,193, 5,516,747, and 4,071,617.
A major challenge lies in the unpredictability and complex nature of the final tank-mixtures. There are two general types of incompatibility of pesticides and fertilizers: chemical and physical. For example chemical incompatibility of a pesticide and fertilizer occurs when a pesticide is hydrolyzed or subjected to other unwanted chemical reactions. Physical incompatibility occurs most frequently when the tank mixture forms an agglomerate due to, e.g., coagulation, flocculation, gelling, or precipitation of crystals. The mixtures may form hard packed agglomerates or oil globules. Physical incompatibility present difficulties since the malfunctioning tank-mixture plugs conventional spray filters and nozzles.
The problem can be persistent despite the use of compatibility agents which mostly are organic nonionic surfactants. Between the two incompatibility types, the physical incompatibility is the most serious of all, since chemical incompatibility can be generally avoided beforehand. Physical incompatibility is generally overcome by use of surfactants or wetting agents and dispersants. Although there have been pesticide suspension patents of fertilizer compatible compositions as described above, they are found to suffer from one major problem, foaming. This can be a persistent problem during tank mixing with fertilizers, apparently caused by the presence of surfactant combinations. As a result, the foaming problem can lead to inaccurate spray volume of the fertilizer mix.